


To Lovers

by DarknessAroundUs



Series: The Bruce Trilogy [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Archie Andrews & Betty Cooper Friendship, Archie Andrews & Jughead Jones Friendship, F/M, Grimm Betty, POV Archie Andrews, POV Jughead Jones, POV Outsider, Secret Relationship, Werewolf Jughead, detective betty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-04 13:44:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17305670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarknessAroundUs/pseuds/DarknessAroundUs
Summary: Archie is a detective with the Portland Police, his longtime work partner Betty Cooper has a secret.A supernatural AU. The second in a series, but can be read independently.





	1. Into the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a oneshot, but it spiraled out of control. Sorry/not sorry
> 
> This takes place three years after The Night Belongs but it can be read independently.

Come on now try and understand  
The way I feel when I'm in your hands  
Take me now as the sun descends  
They can't hurt you now  
They can't hurt you now  
They can't hurt you now

Because the night belongs to lovers  
Because the night belongs to us

 _Because the Night,_ Bruce Springteen 

Jughead wakes from his nap, warm and cozy, Betty’s body is tucked into his, and the fall afternoon light is filtering in through the window. Betty’s hair gleams in it, like something out of a fairy tale. 

Every part of his body feels content from being with hers, from holding hers for hours as he dreamed. Her breathing is low and slow. Saturday’s are the one day where she can catch up on sleep, each week and he tries to encourage it as much as possible. He gets up slowly, trying not to wake her.

He pulls on his jeans, and she lets out a low whistle. He looks up and sees her eyes sparkling green, like the sea in a midwinter storm. “Oh, I love you.” he says, as he buttons and then zips the pants. 

He goes over to where she is on the bed and kisses her, she’s still drowsy and she returns his kisses lazily, her mouth slightly open. 

“If only all days were like this.” She says.

“You mean if all days started at four in the morning with a Löwen attacking a slew of people downtown?” Jughead says, recalling exactly where they spent the early hours of the day.

“I blocked that part out, though I was thankful for your assistance. I was think more of our day from brunch on.” 

Jughead recalls eating pancakes on the back porch, and reading the morning paper together in contented silence, followed by a good long hike, and then nap they shared together. “The rest of the day was ideal, although I do wish you would sleep more.” Betty is already climbing out of bed, her face still a little flushed.

“I’m too hungry for that.” Betty says.

“Isn’t that my line?” Jughead teases back. 

“No, your line, is ‘I would love to cook dinner. Betty, can you pick up a bottle of wine?’” 

Jughead laughed. One of the things he loved about her was her directness. He was glad she had come to appreciate his cooking. It had taken her a long time to get used to him handling the domestic side of things. But with him essentially being jobless, and her working two full time ones, it only made sense if the household was his domain. Besides he loved taking care of her like that, even if he didn’t love things like doing dishes or mowing the lawn in and of itself.

“I would love to cook dinner. Betty, can you pick up a bottle of wine?” 

“Of course, Jug.” Betty kisses his neck briefly as she passes him on her way the hall. “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

 

* * *

Archie Andrews has had the same partner for twelve years. Not the same romantic partner, he’s never been good at keeping one for more than a few months, but the same partner at work. 

Betty Smith is as good a work wife as they come. She is smart, strong, loyal, and surprisingly resourceful. They’ve solved hundreds of cases together as detectives. They have the highest success rate in all of Portland, which is pretty astonishing, particularly since they always end up with the stranger cases. If there is a heart found in a suitcase or a mummified corpse, they are the cops you call. 

Arche values Betty immensely, he considers her family. Which is why Archie is very shocked when he drops by her house one night to ask if she can last minute dog sit (Vegas is waiting in the car) while he flys home to be at his aunt's funeral, when a man opens the door. 

The man is wearing a flowered apron that Archie recognizes as belonging to Betty. He has dark curly hair and an angular face. He’s taller than Archie and thinner. The expression on his face is stern.

“Hello?” The man sniffs the air once, which Archie registers as odd, and then he smiles broadly. “You must be Archie. Come in.”

Archie is shocked. How does this man know his name? 

“Who are you?” Archie asks as he follows the man into the kitchen.

“I’m Jughead. Betty will be back any minute. She just ran out to get a bottle of wine.”

It is a strange feeling to be in Betty’s kitchen with an unknown man who moves around the kitchen with practiced ease. In all the years that Archie and Betty have been partners, she’s never mentioned dating anyone or having a boyfriend. Archie wonders how long this has been going on. Or what exactly it is. Maybe he’s just a male friend. But Archie wants to find out, so he asks a direct and possibly awkward question.

“Sorry, Betty’s never mentioned you before, who are you?”

Jughead looks up from the carrot he’s cutting and meets Archie’s gaze before shrugging “I’m her partner.”

Archie laughs. “No, I’m her partner. Going on 12 years now.” He’s pretty confident on this one. 

It’s Jughead’s turn to laugh. “I’m her life partner, not her work partner.”

“So you’re her boyfriend?”

Jughead grimaces. “I hate that word, but yes.”

“For how long?” Archie asks. 

“We’ve been living together for two years now, dating for three.” Jughead throws the carrots in the pan. Archie feels shock run through his body like cold water. How could he not know this? How could Betty have kept this from him? She knows the name of people he’s only gone on two dates with. 

“Why didn’t she tell me about you?” Archie asks. He’s surprised Jughead isn’t more annoyed by all of this. It seems so strange to him that Betty would keep anyone a secret. Though clearly Jughead knew about Archie. 

“Betty’s a private person, she compartmentalizes.” Jughead says. “Do you want to stay for dinner?”

Archie glances at the time. As long as Betty agrees to dogsit, and he’s pretty sure she will, he will still have plenty of time to get to the airport. 

“Sure, man”. He wants to get to know this stranger better, he needs to. He’s always known that Betty is private. There is a whole section of her life she doesn’t share with him. He gets hints about it sometimes, but he’s never clear as to what it actually involves. 

Early on he had guesses involving everything from an underground fight club (it would explain her often injured status) to a secret child (which would explain why she often was unavailable outside of work.) But over the years his curiosity has faded. He trusted Betty enough to know that whatever it was, was a secret for a reason. 

He hears the key in the lock, and then the door swings open. Betty walks in with a bunch of tulips and a bottle of wine. Archie expects her to be surprised by his presence but she’s not. She greets him warmly, and says “I’m glad you finally met Jughead.” 

“It would have been nice to have known about Jughead before meeting him.” Archie says, not able to contain his irritation completely. “Apparently you had three years to tell me about him.”

Betty shrugs. “You’re staying for dinner right?” Archie shrugs a yes. 

Betty kisses Jughead on the cheek before cutting the ends off the tulip stems and placing them in water. It feels so strange to watch this romantic, domestic version of Betty. He’s more used to seeing her handcuff perps than hold flowers.

While Jughead finishes up cooking he and Betty chat about work, his aunt, and Vegas. Betty retrieves the dog from the car. It is clear that even though Archie didn’t know about Jughead, Vegas did. Both are happy to see each other. Archie can’t help but feel a little unsettled by this. But he forces himself to calm down.

They sit down to dinner, which is an excellent spaghetti of some sort. It turns out Jughead is a better cook than Betty. Jughead asks Archie a few easy questions about what it’s like to work with Betty. 

At that point, half a glass of wine in, Archie decides he’s comfortable enough to ask some of the questions he actually wants answers to.

“So how did you meet?” Archie asks, glancing at Jughead. 

“You remember FP?” Betty asks. Archie nods. He’d met FP twice. Once involved arresting FP, the second time involved an awkward conversation about FP covertly working for Betty. Betty brings him up from time to time, so he knows they’re still in touch. “Jughead is FP’s son.”

A couple of pieces slide into place in Archie’s mind. Like a floor being re-tiled. Still Archie’s not sure how many tiles are still missing.

“So FP introduced you?”

Jughead shakes his head. “No, no. FP was missing. I went looking for him. The Portland Serpents told me Betty would help me, and she did. That’s how we met.”

“So you are a Serpent?” Archie’s done the research. He knows they don’t do anything illegal at this point, but they’re connected to other groups that do more than dabble in crime. 

Archie could tell that Jughead was choosing his next words carefully. “Yes. Full disclosure, I used to lead the Toledo chapter of the Serpents, but when I moved here, I stepped down to just a simple member role.”

“But that might change when your father retires?” Archie asks. He feels so close to the secret, whatever it was. Could it be as simple as this - Betty not wanting to know she was dating the former and future head of a motorcycle club.

He notices how Betty and Jughead’s feet are touching under the table, they are both bare. There is something strangely intimate about it, and Archie forces himself to look away, to focus on their faces.

“No. The Serpents don’t trust cops enough to want the boyfriend of one to lead them.” Jughead shrugs. Betty reaches over and places a hand on Jughead’s upper thigh, he covers that hand with his own. “Besides I have different priorities now.” 

“So you started dating while searching for FP?” Archie asks. He’s still trying to get a handle on that. 

“No. After we found him something...” Jughead pauses as if choosing his words carefully “shifted.”

“What?” Archie asks. He’s surprised to see a blush cover Jughead’s cheeks.

“I had dreams.” Betty says. Archie is shocked by the statement. She had told him once that when her parents died she stopped dreaming. “For the first time in over a decade I was dreaming, and in all the dreams Jughead was there, and we were doing simple things together. Taking walks, snuggling on the sofa.”

“And I was having similar dreams. Not the same ones, but there were points of overlap.” Jughead says.”I know this sounds a little crazy.”

“It does.” Archie replies, he’s having a hard time not rolling his eyes at all this. But the fact is Betty is not one for magic charms and horoscopes. She’s a practical person rooted in reality. If Betty said these dreams happened to her, they did. 

“Look it would be easier if I dated almost anyone else.” Jughead says. Archie’s sure that’s not true, their conflict of interest seems relatively minor in the scheme of things. Jughead’s hand is still covering Betty’s.”But this is it for me. This is what I want more than anything.”

“What we want.” Betty adds. 

“It honestly doesn’t seem like that big a deal.” Archie says. “I’m sure there are lots of cops in relationships with motorcycle club members. It’s not like your Romeo and Juliet.”

He was surprised by how much both of them laugh at the joke. 

The second dinner they share is less awkward, and by the fifth Archie actually feels like he’s gotten to know Jughead. He likes the guy in spite of his odd but somehow fitting name.

He’s unused to feeling like the third wheel though. Even though they both make an effort to include him in all the conversation, there is this energy between them that he can’t ignore entirely. Even when they’re not touching, he can feel their desire to do so. 

In front of him they never kiss unless they are saying goodbye, and even then it is chaste and polite. But when they sit on the couch they are as close as two books on a shelf. When they sit across from each other their feet touch. When they stand Jughead’s arms loop around Betty’s waist more often than not. 

Often Archie comes home from their place longing for his own significant other. When he goes on dates now, he notices different things. Before he focused a lot on how open someone was sleeping to him. Now he was more focused on how they touched him casually. How there conversation unfolded, how comfortable he felt. 

Because in Archie’s life he’s seen a lot of dysfunctional relationships. He’s never seen one like Betty and Jughead, which is why the fact that they seem to want to hide what they have confuses the hell out of him.

A few months after Archie discovers Jughead, Betty has to go out of town for some unspecified reason. Archie at loose ends for the weekend calls Jughead up at the last minute and asks if he’d like to try this new food cart roundup.

They are eatings tacos around a firepit and drinking beers, when Archie asks Jughead what he and Betty usually do on weekends. Jughead shrugs. “Cook, eat, go for hikes, nap, play video games, watch movies.”

“You don’t go out to places like this?” Archie asks. Jughead looks around. Most of the crowd around them is indeed couples on dates. 

“No, this isn’t our scene. We prefer quiet.” Jughead says with a shrug. 

Archie realizes then that whatever Betty’s secret life is, it extends beyond Jughead. And whatever it is Jughead is a part of it. He keeps telling himself it’s not a sex thing, it can’t be a sex thing.

A year passes smoothly. Archie becomes used to being the third wheel, usually at home dinners and backyard BBQ’s. 

Betty at home with Jughead is different from work Betty. She’s more open about herself, more blunt. She’s also softer. 

At work she never lets others do things for her beyond picking up the occasional coffee. Archie always speculated that that was part of being a female cop, never showing weakness. But at home Jughead handles most of the household chores Things that Betty never had time to do before like made homemade granola, he now does. 

Now that he knows when Jughead and Betty started dating he can chart the differences in her. See the subtle and sometimes not so subtle signs of shift that happened when Jughead entered her life. 

Some of them were very obvious. Such as the fact that she started to talk about a friend named J around that time. One that Archie had incorrectly assumed to be a women. 

Still at work Betty never talks about a boyfriend. If someone asks her out, she never mentions the fact that she already has a partner, she just turns them down. 

Because of this Archie never brings Jughead up, and when he slips and does by accident one day in a work meeting, he plays it off like Jughead is just a friend he knows, not Betty’s significant other. Betty looks relieved.

Archie decides that all of this secrecy must be related to Betty’s past. Everyone at work knows that Betty’s mother killed Betty’s father for killing a third party (nothing much is known about the third party). Archie feels like every secret Betty keeps is rooted somehow in this fact, a fact that everyone in their precinct knows. 

But he’s wrong about the reason for her secret life. He discovers just how wrong he is on fifteenth of June, two years after he first met Jughead. 

The two are running in the woods. It’s after dinner but the sky's still light. Day last so long in the summer.

Archie, per usual is struggling to keep up. Jughead is a natural runner, the kind of runner that doesn’t look like they are exerting any effort while somehow moving swiftly for long periods of time. Meanwhile Archie is huffing, puffing, and sweating. 

The sun is just starting to set when they get back to car Archie has to go refill his water bottle at the fountain before leaving. Jughead nods his agreement and leans against Archie’s car. 

Archie is refilling his water bottle when he hears a dry stick snap behind him. He raises his head, and turns to look. Running towards him at full speed is a man in some sort of horrible Halloween mask with dark fur across it and extended teeth. That is all Archie notices before Archie forces himself to run towards the car. 

Archie wishes he had his gun on him, but of course he doesn’t. Archie doesn’t run fast enough, the man tackles him and Archie blacks out. 

When Archie opens his eyes it must just be a few minutes later because it is still dusk. Archie’s whole torso feels like it is on fire. At least three of his ribs are broken, yet he forces himself to sit up and look around. 

That’s when he spots the man who attacked him pinned to the ground about eight feet away another man in a Halloween mask - it must be a Halloween mask, punching him into unconsciousness. 

Archie realizes that this second man in the Halloween mask is wearing the same running clothes as Jughead, just seconds before passing out again. 

 

* * *

“We have to tell him the truth.”

“Do you think he can handle it?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

TBC


	2. The Truth and Everything it Brings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed bits and pieces of the Grimm mythology. Although readers may have already figured that out by now. Not that one has to have watched Grimm to read this. It stands on its own.

Archie wakes in Betty and Jughead’s living room surrounded by familiar floral wallpaper. He hears Betty’s voice softly say “Do you think he saw you?”. 

Archie can’t see Betty. All he can see is wall and ceiling.

“I don’t know.” Jughead answers, his voice thick with tension.

“I sure saw something.” Archie croaks. His friends rush to his side.

“I am so sorry.” Jughead says. 

“What was that? What are you?”

“It’s complicated.” Jughead says.

“Betty, are you one too?” Archie asks.

Betty shakes her head. “I’m something else.”

Archie had spent most of a decade wanting in on Betty’s secret life and now that he was on the edge of it, he really didn’t want to know more, but there was no way he could look at either of them the same way without knowing more.

“Do you need water?” Betty asks. Archie nods and a minute later Betty returns with a tall glass of ice water which she helps him take a sip of. He can’t manage more than that now. His chest screams with pain. 

“So what the hell are you?” Archie asks Jughead.

“A Blutbad. Commonly known as the big bad wolf, or a werewolf.”

“Fuck.” Archie exhales, he feels lightheaded, though not from the pain. “Has Betty always known.”

“From the very moment she met me.” Jughead says. “And to her credit she never held it against me.”

“Was what attacked me the same as you?” 

Jughead snorts “Hell no, that was a Drang-Zorn. We’re nothing alike.”

“Oh.” Archie says. “How many different kinds of creatures are there?”

“We call ourselves Wesen, thank you very much.” Jughead says with a look of scorn, followed by a look of softness. “There are hundreds of different kinds.”

Archie realizes this world that he’s just now discovering, that is sending shock-waves through his mind, is something Jughead grew up. With something he’s never not known. All this information is shocking to Archie, but it’s just a fact for Jughead

Although now that Archie is aware of it, other things start to make more sense. Like the weird cases they solve, the really strange ones, those must involve Wesen. That sends his heart racing all over again.

“And Betty’s one?” Archie has to clarify this point. He likes Jughead but they've only been friends for a few years, if Betty managed to get away with something like this for well over a decade that was a whole different situation. 

“Not exactly. She’s a Grimm.” Jughead says as if that meant something. It means nothing to Archie, at least nothing with any context. Is it related to the Grim Reaper, fairy tales, or something else entirely?

“What does she look like when she changes?” Archie asks.

“It’s not exactly like that for me.” Betty answer, sitting down on the floor besides the sofa he’s lying on. “I don’t transform into this other thing with different strengths and powers. I always look like me.”

“Sort of.” Jughead mutters beside her.

“When Wesen first meet me, I see their true form, and they see my eyes black as pitch.”

“Oh.”

“That’s kind of underselling it, love.” Jughead says. “They look like a terrifying bottomless pit. Like a small abyss.” He says these dark words, but his hand is on her thigh and his eyes are filled with love.

Betty looks at Jughead warmly and smiles before re-focusing on Archie. “I’m the anti-Wesen. My kind - Grimm - have been bred and taught to kill Wesen. We are stronger and faster than humans, than most Wesen. If any Wesen commits a serious crime I’m supposed to take care of it.”

Archie looks between his two best friends with astonishment. “Wait, what? Is this why you became a cop?”

“Sort of. It’s a related skill set after all. We certainly have caught a lot of Wesen at work.” Betty says, which confirms Archie’s earlier suspicions.”But old fashioned Grimm are fine with catching and killing any Wesen, innocent or not, and I’m not like that.”

“Oh.” Archie exhales. “So I take it Grimm-Wesen pairings are unusual.”

“Try unheard of.” Jughead says, his voice low as if even in this place, their own home, it was a secret.

“That is why you and Betty keep your relationship a secret.” Archie says. As scary as all this is, he also feels relief. It feels great to finally be sorting out the secrets that surround him. The mysteries that have defined big parts of his life.

“Exactly.” Betty says. “I mean some Wesen know. FP knows, obviously, and he’s ok with it, mostly. And some of the Serpents know, it couldn’t be helped. A few others as well. Sometimes Jughead helps me with my trickier cases, and if we can hide his connection to me we do, but it is not always possible.”

Archie nods. It figures that even in this shadow version of Betty’s life she’d have a work partner. 

He doesn’t have to ask them why they’re together in spite of the situation. He knows. He’s seen Jughead’s hand pressed into the small of Betty’s back. He’s seen them cook dinner together, dancing around each other, chatting happily. He knows how their conversations work, a mix of teasing, wordplay, literary references, and tenderness.

“I’m sorry.” Archie says. 

Betty laughs in spite of herself. “That’s why we love you! You find out about the supernatural world and after barely freaking out, you worry about us.”

“I don’t know if worry is the right word for what i’m feeling right now.“ Archie says. “Also does the Chief know?” Archie has always wondered why their boss has accepted some of their explanations for the crazy cases. 

“Robert is Wesen too.” Betty says with a shrug “He’s an Eisbiber. They’re completely harmless.”

“OK, then.” Archie files a way the fact that these creatures, he refuses to call them Wesen can be harmless as well as harmful. He actually files away almost all of this to deal with at another date because right now with his ribs burning like hell, and his head aching from the influx of information, he really can’t handle anything else. ”Do you guys have anything to eat around here?” 

Jughead sighs with relief and Betty orders pizza and somehow they get to talking about work. Only at the end of the night after the bad horror movie they’ve watched is over, does Archie think to ask another question about what happened this afternoon.

“Why were we attacked?” He says over the classical music playing through the closing credits.

“You know the case we are working on, the one involving the ex lover and the refrigerator?” Betty says, Archie nods, it’s been taking up most of their time lately. “The killer is a Drang-Zorn. I could tell because of the wounds on the victim. I think the Drang-Zorn that attacked you tonight, either committed that crime or is helping with the cover up. I think we were getting too close to solving the case for their comfort, so they tried to take you out.”

“The guy who attacked me tonight is alive, right?” Archie asks, suddenly in shock. 

“Of course.” Jughead says with a shrug. “He’s in the back shed.”

“What!” Archie almost screams. This is not proper police procedure in any way. He known that Betty has her own way of doing things for years, he’s just never suspected that they were so unorthodox.

“Just joking.” Jughead says. “Betty took him down to the precinct.” 

“Oh.” Archie feels relief. Instead of driving home that night, he sleeps on the sofa. In the morning everything that passed before feels a little like a dream. 

At first he can’t think about any of it, Jughead being a werewolf, Betty being a slayer (he knows she doesn’t call herself that, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is one,) about all of the things that go bump in the night being real. 

But slowly, over time, months actually, he begins to think of these things as normal. He’s come to tease Jughead about being a werewolf. He also starts to feel better about his own running abilities. He’s been running with and comparing himself to someone who's not even human, after all. 

Knowing what is actually going on has made work easier. They solve cases even quicker now that Betty doesn’t have to make up weird excuses for knowing what she knows, she no longer has to hide her super strength or speed from him either. Although he must admit he finds both a little intimidating. 

It still takes a long time for all of the repercussions of this to sink in. 

In September he’s still learning new things. They are sitting around the fire-pit in the backyard of the cottage when a beautiful women, with long black hair and heels entirely unsuited to a backyard, walks around the side of the house calling Betty’s name. 

“Veronica, what are you doing here?” Betty asks, greeting the women with a hug and ushering her towards the firepit. 

“I see he’s still living with you.” Veronica snarls at Jughead. Archie is confused by this remark, by this women who marches into Betty’s backyard as if it is her own. 

Jughead winks at Veronica. “Nice to see you too, Ronnie.” 

“How you can live with one is beyond me, really!” Veronica says with venom, only then noticing Archie, she takes a surprised step back, a move she somehow manages to pull off in heels on the grass. 

She gazes at him for a second in a pointed way, as if she’s trying to figure something out, then she shakes her head “Who is this?”

“I’m Archie Andrews, Betty’s partner.” Archie says.

“Work partner.” Betty and Jughead supply in unison. 

“I’m also Jughead’s best friend.” Archie says. As much as this women physically appeals to him, she’s being a bitch to Jughead for no good reason as far as he can tell. He’s surprised she even knows about Jughead, she must be Wesen, since he’s the only human who knows Betty’s secret.

“I would say pleased to meet you, but then you defended Jug-head…” Veronica’s voice trailed off. “Betty can we talk inside?””

“I don’t think we need to. Archie knows all about Wesen.”

“Wait, isn’t she Wesen?” Archie asks. 

“Hell no. I’m a motherfucking Grimm, you human” Veronica says, rolling her eyes. “And why are you’re ok with your bestfriend being an animal?”

Jughead has been calm up to this point, but now Archie, who has nothing but a human nose to go on, can smell the change of tension in him. 

“Veronica, you’ve been saved by the Serpents three times now, I think it’s time you get off your high horse.” Betty says firmly. 

“Ok, now I get it why Wesen hate Grimms.” Archie says. An offended look crosses Veronica’s face, but more importantly the tension in Jughead’s jaw releases.

Veronica turns towards Betty “He does understand that our kind protects his kind right?” 

Betty laughs. “Yes. He was also friends with Jughead for a couple years before he found out about the Wesen part.”

“Oh.” Veronica says. She helps herself to one of the beers from the cooler, and she swallows it like someone who would rather drink anything else. 

Only when her beer is finished does she focus all of her considerable energy on Archie. “You know there are very few humans that know about all this.” 

“I know.” Archie says. 

“So will you go out on a date with me?” Veronica says, quirking an eyebrow at him. Archie feels profoundly confused by the question. He feels like he’s experiencing conversational whiplash. 

But then he thinks about it for a second, he remembers Betty telling him how hard it was to date as a Grimm before Jughead. Archie guesses that a human that knew about Wesen would be one of the few options for Veronica. 

Veronica certainly looked his type, but she also seemed like a bit of a bitch. But he probably didn’t meet her under the correct circumstances. Archie glances at Betty for reassurance or approval, and she gives a small nod in his direction.

“As long as you stop being so vicious to Jug.” Archie says, trying to put his cop face on, while also trying not to grin. 

“Deal. But i’ll only stop for as long as were dating.” 

Archie grins at her. He’s a little terrified, but he already knows that at least while dating her, he won’t be bored. Veronica leaves soon after they exchange numbers. 

Jughead, Betty, and Archie roast marshmallows over the fire pit. Betty sits in Jughead’s lap. Only in the calm after the storm does Archie realize that he now has a taste of what they’re up against. He understood in the abstract that they’re relationship was controversial, because they’ve told him as much, over and over again. 

But even then they’d always talked about it from a Wesen perspective. Now it was very clear that Grimms are not a big fan of it either.

Archie’s seen a lot of unhealthy relationships in his time, his parents slowly fracturing apart with silence, his uncle and his wife separating with fists. Jughead and Betty were the opposite of that. They were two people who always seemed like each others peace.

The fact that their relationship was in anyway controversial just seemed silly to him. When he ends up saying this to Veronica on their third date, she just scoffs at him. 

“You’re an outsider. You don’t have any skin in the game. You can never really understand.” Veronica says, sipping a thirty-five dollar glass of wine and leaning back into her chair. 

“Ok, so explain it to me. Because what I see is a couple that loves each other, and are still nauseatingly like honeymooners, half a decade into a relationship.” Archie likes Veronica, they’ve had a lot of fun on their very expensive dates, but at this point she’s a fling who hates his chosen family. 

Her attitude is making it harder and harder to see a future with her, even though he would really like to have one with her, in so many ways.

“Do you know why Betty and Jughead don’t have kids?” Veronica says, raising one very sculpted dark eyebrow.

“They don’t want them?” Archie says with a shrug. This particular topic of conversation has never come up with them. 

“They can’t have them. Grimm and Wesen can not reproduce together.”

“Ok.” Archie says, trying to digest this fact. He wonders if Betty and Jughead want to have kids, and he feels a pang of sadness for them, if that is the situation.

“So that’s my case. Grimm and Wesen are clearly an unnatural pairing because they can not reproduce together.”

Archie can’t help himself. He stands up, his body flushed with anger “Veronica, I didn’t take you for a homophobe.” 

“I’m not.” Veronica says, looking appalled. “Not in the slightest. What does this have anything to do with Gay rights, which I for the record, support 100%.”

Archie doesn’t sit back down, but he does lean towards her. He stills feel the anger coursing through his body. “Think about how you just justified your position against Grimm-Wesen relationships.”

Veronica goes red and then sputters “But that’s not the same at all…” 

“I like you Veronica, more than I care to admit. But if you’re going to let your prejudices get the better of you, good riddance.” With that Archie walks away. Only as he pulls into his own driveway does he realize that he did not pay the bill at the bar. 

When Betty asks about the date the next day at work he just shakes his head. Later that night over beers in their living room, he explains the whole situation. He expects Jughead and Betty to be appalled at Veronica’s behavior, just like he is.

Instead Jughead shrugs. “It’s an argument I’ve certainly heard before. It’s actually less offensive than some of the others.”

Archie shakes his head. “I just don’t understand how you are both ok with this.”

“We aren't. We would love nothing more to than to have everyone shrug and move on. But we understood the prejudices going into this.” Jughead says. “Did you know that when I first knocked on Betty’s door to ask for help from her, I was terrified. If you told me than that I could fall in love with her, I would have either been very angry, or laughed in your face.”

“Look, Veronica was trained by me to be a Grimm. I tried to teach her that Wesen can be a whole range of things, from good to terrible, just like normal humans, and some of that stuck. She was always skeptical, but she was more open. Then seven years ago, she went to NY for some follow up training, and the Grimm who taught her there, was a lot more old fashioned. He is part of the reason she’s so opposed to Wesen.” Betty says.

Jughead mutters “Motherfucking asshole.” under his breath. 

“Veronica could have betrayed me when she found out about Jughead. If the council of Grimm knew who I was dating I would be dead.” Betty says. Archie is finding it trickier to breath. As if he is in a room with the walls closing in around him instead of outside under the stars.

“Me too.” Jughead says with a shake of his head. 

“So we just count our blessings that Veronica keeps this to herself, and we try not to rock the boat.” Betty says. 

Archie looks up at the sky above them. For the first time the dangers his friends face, feel real to him. He hates that they just have to look the other way when people disparage them. They might have to, but he doesn’t.

“I’m not dating Veronica anymore.” Archie says. 

“That’s fine.” Betty nods, taking a sip of her beer. 

Two days later Archie wakes to pounding on his door. It’s 5 AM on a Saturday, and has no idea who it could possibly be. He checks his phone and there’s no missed calls so it’s not a work emergency.

He swings open the door of his apartment and there is Veronica, a tray of coffees and a box of Voodoo Donuts in her hand.

“What are you doing?” He manages to ask, sleepily.

“Apologizing.” She says marching right past him and placing the tray of coffees on the kitchen island. “Don’t get used to it though, because Lodges don’t apologize under many circumstances.”

She hands him one of the coffees and he takes a sip. She’s added too much sugar, but he’s too tired to complain.

“Why did you wake me up to apologize?”

“I wanted to catch you before work. I couldn’t wait another day.”

“I don’t work Saturdays.” He says helping himself to an oreo donut. 

“I didn’t know that.”

“Are you going to apologize?” Archie asks. Veronica pulls herself up even straighter. Even in the tall heels she wears, she is much shorter than him. 

“You’re right. My prejudices were showing. I have nothing against Jughead except for the fact that he was born a Wesen and Betty was born a grimm.”

“Ok.” Archie says.

“But it’s going to take me time to sort it all out. I don’t think I’ll ever be BFF’s with Jughead.”

“That’s fine.” Archie was fairly certain Jughead had no desire to be BFF’s with Veronica, or ever use the abbreviation BFF in any context. “So are you going to go over there with donuts and coffee and apologize.”

“Betty’s more of a croissant aficionado, but yes, I am going to do that regardless of if you say no to going on another date with me.” Veronica says.

“Are you asking me on another date?”

“Yes.” Archie wonders if Veronica is trying so hard only because the pickings are so slim, but then again he can hardly complain. Her prejudice against Betty and Jughead aside, she was just his type.

“Ok.”

She kisses him after that and they spend the morning together, although Veronica makes it very clear that this does not count as a date.

***

Jughead is leaning back in the driver's seat of Betty’s Jeep watching the back door of a house in the Division/Clinton neighborhood. Betty is beside him, sipping the last dregs of a smoothie he mocked her for ordering (“at least it isn’t kombucha Jug”).

Watching a house like this is something they end up doing fairly frequently for various reasons. This time it’s because a Wesen gang dealing in immorally obtained potions is allegedly operating out of the house. Whenever they stake out a place it reminds Jughead of their first stake out, half a decade ago now. 

He can’t help himself from saying the same cheesy line every time (“It’s like our first date all over again”). Often they talk for hours in the car together, taking turns focusing on the house. Sometimes it feels a lot like a date. 

They talk about the books they’ve read, the ones they want to read, the hikes they want to take this year, the possibility of backpacking. Sometimes on the colder nights when they’ve pitched the only tent in miles, Jughead will change into his wolf form and spoon Betty, to keep them both warm. It’s his favorite way to wake up but it’s un-practically hot at home.

They don’t talk about any of that this Sunday night. Betty is particularly quiet. Her eyes are focused on the house, it’s untrimmed front yard spilling over onto the sidewalk.

“What’s bothering you?” He asks. He doesn’t think it’s the stake-out itself, or even the existence of the drug ring. He suspects this has something to do with Veronica’s pastry filled visit this morning. 

Betty places a hand on Jughead’s thigh but doesn’t meet his gaze. “It’s just most of the time I get so wrapped up in the bubble of us that I forget how dangerous this could be for you.” 

“Not just for me.” Jughead says. In fact he’s pretty sure that in the scheme of things, Betty’s position as a cop and a Grimm makes her the far more vulnerable one. He’s not really in a position of note, largely being a stay at home husband for all intents and purposes. But she has a bit of a target painted on her back.

Betty’s eyes gleam a little with tears close to the surface, but nothing falls. “I want you to be safe.”

Jughead can tell that she’s about to suggest a split, or a separation. When they first got together she would occasionally panic and suggest such things, out of fear, but she hadn’t in years. Still he cuts her off at the pass “Not to be melodramatic or anything, but I would much rather die, than live without you.”

Betty actually laughs at that, her eyes still shining for the wrong reasons. 

After a minute she finally meets his gaze. “But you might lose me anyways. If the wrong people intervene.”

Jughead knows that. He’s known that for a long time. He thinks about it sometimes and when he does an old Irish chant his mom used to sing always comes into his mind - O'Reilly is dead and O'Reilly don't know it, They're both lying dead in the very same bed, And neither one knows that the other is dead.

He doesn’t think he’ll be lucky enough to go in his old age in his sleep. He doesn’t think that’s what the fates have in store with him or Betty, but he hopes that if Betty’s killed, he will die by her side. He’s thought that for so long, he doesn’t even think it’s morbid anymore. 

“Touche” He says. 

Then she voices his unspoken thoughts. “Maybe they’ll take us out together.”

Jughead laughs. In other contexts there are so many ways to interpret that question, but in the context of their lives, there is only one. “That’s the hope.” He pauses for a second and then he says “Do you ever wish we could go out more, like other people do? Like how Archie’s taking Veronica to that new Tapas place on Thursday. Do you ever wish we could do that?”

Betty smiles at him almost shyly. “Do you like tapas?”

“No.” Jughead says “It never feels like enough food, no matter how much you order.”

Betty laughs. “I agree. I’d much rather have you roast me a chicken, and we watch a movie all snuggled up in bed.”

“That sounds exactly right.” Jughead is about to kiss her, when he sees the door to the house they are watching, swing open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It should be pretty clear by now, that in this AU i’m pursuing the whole Romeo & Juliet angle from the show but in an entirely different way. 
> 
> The final installment of the Trilogy is going to be titled “In a Dangerous Time” and that’s all I can tell you right now. It may be a oneshot, it may not.
> 
> I am always grateful for feedback.

**Author's Note:**

> I am so grateful for any feedback!


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